Community Server 2008.5 Documentation

Question and Answer Thread Functionality

Jenny Jarrard — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 21:15:04 GMT

Current Revision posted to Community Server 2008.5 Documentation by Jenny Jarrard on 2/26/2010 3:15:04 PM

Question and Answer Thread Functionality

The Question and Answer functionality is very useful in support scenarios where users come to your community posting questions because it provides a means of tracking whether questions have been answered or not.

Below is a screenshot of a sample Question and Answer thread.

Understanding Q&A

A Question and Answer thread contains four types of posts - the original question, normal responses, suggested answers and verified answers.

The original Question

The original question appears at the top of every page in the thread. This helps users who visit a page within a thread from an external link (e.g. a search engine) to know what the original problem in the thread was. It also reminds viewers of the original question as threads get over a page in length.

Normal Responses

Some responses to the question will have no special status. These may be posts trying to diagnose what a problem is before providing a solution, or posts which had been suggested as answers but did not solve the poster's problem.

Verified Answer

Verified Answers appear in two separate locations within a thread. Verified Answers appear on every page (just under the Original Question). This helps users who follow an external link to your community (e.g. from a search engine) quickly see what the solution to the problem is without having to sift through lots of posts to work out the solution. Verified answers are highlighted in green to make them stand out from the other responses in a thread.

Verified Answers can be rejected as answers if the answer was verified by accident, or the solution only worked temporarily. This can be done by the poster of the original question, or by users with the Mark as Answer permission.

A thread can have more than one verified answers. This is useful in scenarios where two very different solutions have been posted to a problem which both work. Both authors will receive points as a reward for their suggestion, and any other person who comes across the thread can see both solutions and decide on which is most appropriate for their needs.

Using Q&A

Starting a Q&A thread

A question and answer thread is started in exactly the same way as a normal thread. Just go to the forum you want to post in and press the "Create New Post" button. You will only see a difference in the experience between creating a new discussion and a new question if the the forum you're posting to allows both Discussion and Question threads. In this case you'll be asked to specify if your post is a Discussion or a Question.

If only Question threads are enabled, a user's question will be automatically marked as a question when they post.

Suggesting an Answer

There are two ways an answer can be suggested.

Respond to a question by pressing the next to the question at the top of the page.

Clicking the button on an existing response to a question (This can be done by anyone apart from the user who posted the question).

Verifying an Answer

To verify a suggested answer, click the button. This can be done by both the original poster, and users with the "Mark as Answer" permission. Normally this is used to verify a suggested answer, but it can also be used if a response is posted which solves the problem but was not marked as a suggested answer.

When an answer is verified, the author of the response will receive points as a reward for helping the original poster.

Rejecting an Answer

To reject a verified or suggested answer, press the button to reject the response and demote it to a normal response. Any user who has the "Mark as Answer" " permission, and the original poster will also be able to Reject a suggested answer.

When an answer is rejected, the author of the response will lose any points they received for suggesting a validated answer..

Monitoring Questions

When viewing threads in a forum, you can see at a glance which posts have been answered, and which have not. Posts which have been answered have a green tick () check mark next to the thread name, posts with suggested answers have a yellow tick check mark () while questions which haven't been answered have a red question mark (). Discussion threads have no icon next to them.

The Unanswered posts list has also been updated to include questions without answers, or with suggested answers, in addition to non question and answer posts which have not received any replies.

Reporting with Harvest

Whilst this goes slightly beyond the scope of this article, I thought it was worth pointing out that Harvest Reporting Server provides a number of reports around Question and Answers.

(If you click on either of the screenshots above you'll be taken to the relevant pages in the Harvest demo to have a look at the Questions and Answer reports Harvest provides..)

Managing Q&A

The question and answer functionality is not appropriate for all scenarios so it's possible to turn this functionality on or off both forum wide and on a per forum basis.

Globally Enable / Disable Q&A

To globally enable or disable the question and answer functionality , go to Control Panel, open Forum Administration and click on Global Forum Settings (either link from the Forum Administration homepage, or under the Configuration section). Under the General tab find the "Enable Thread Status Tracking" and change this to Yes or No as required.

Enabling / Disabling Q&A per forum

The following options may not appear if Thread Status Tracking is globally disabled. To check if this is enabled, follow the instructions in the "Globally Enabled / Disable Q&A" section above.

To enable question and answer on a per forum basis, open up Forum Administration section of Control Panel then go to the Forums page under Forums and Groups. Find the Forum you want to change and press Edit. You can now chose whether question and answer is enabled under the "Allowed Thread Types" option.

If you want to force all threads to be Questions, you can untick deselect the "Discussion" option. Click here for more information.

Question and Answer Thread Functionality

Jenny Jarrard — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 20:54:15 GMT

Revision 5 posted to Community Server 2008.5 Documentation by Jenny Jarrard on 2/26/2010 2:54:15 PM

Question and Answer Thread Functionality

Below is a screenshot of a sample Question and Answer thread.

Understanding Q&A

A Question and Answer thread contains four types of posts - the original question, normal responses, suggested answers and verified answers.

The original Question

Normal Responses

Verified Answer

Using Q&A

Starting a Q&A thread

If only Question threads are enabled, a user's question will be automatically marked as a question when they post.

Suggesting an Answer

There are two ways an answer can be suggested.

Respond to a question by pressing the next to the question at the top of the page.
Clicking the button on an existing response to a question (This can be done by anyone apart from the user who posted the question).

Verifying an Answer

When an answer is verified, the author of the response will receive points as a reward for helping the original poster.

Rejecting an Answer

To reject a verified or suggested answer, press the button to reject the response and demote it to a normal response. Any user who has the "Mark as Answer" permission, and the original poster will also be able to Reject a suggested answer.

When an answer is rejected, the author of the response will lose any points they received for suggesting a validated answer..

Monitoring Questions

When viewing threads in a forum, you can see at a glance which posts have been answered, and which have not. Posts which have been answered have a green tick () next to the thread name, posts with suggested answers have a yellow tick () whilst while questions which haven't been answered have a red question mark (). Discussion threads have no icon next to them.

The Unanswered posts list has also been updated to include questions without answers, or with suggested answers, in addition to non question and answer posts which have not received any replies.

Reporting with Harvest

Whilst this goes slightly beyond the scope of this article, I thought it was worth pointing out that Harvest Reporting Server provides a number of reports around Question and Answers.

(If you click on either of the screenshots above you'll be taken to the relevant pages in the Harvest demo to have a look at the Questions and Answer reports Harvest provides..)

Managing Q&A

The question and answer functionality is not appropriate for all scenarios so it's possible to turn this functionality on or off both forum wide and on a per forum basis.

Globally Enable / Disable Q&A

Enabling / Disabling Q&A per forum

The following options may not appear if Thread Status Tracking is globally disabled. To check if this is enabled, follow the instructions in the "Globally Enabled / Disable Q&A" section above.

If you want to force all threads to be Questions, you can untick the "Discussion" option. Click here for more information.

How do I manually add new links to the navigation bar?

Jenny Jarrard — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 17:08:42 GMT

Current Revision posted to Community Server 2008.5 Documentation by Jenny Jarrard on 2/26/2010 11:08:42 AM

How do I manually add new links to the navigation bar?

FAQs, navigation

This article applies to anyone running a custom theme or one that does not support navigation configuration via the control panel. If you are running a theme (such as the default) that supports configuration via the control panel then we highly recommend you use the control panel to change the navigation items.

There are two main files you need to look at, resources.xml and siteUrls.config. You can find the resources.xml file at <install drive>:\program files\telligent\community server\web\languages\<language code>\ on a default installation. You can find the siteUrls.config file at <install drive>:\program files\telligent\community server\web\ on a default installation.

First, let's make the necessary modifications to the siteUrls.config file. To modify the siteUrls.config file you will need to open up the siteUrls.config and scroll to the bottom, there you will see a set of tags that look something like this:

Once you've found the <navigation> section, you can remove the links for the default navigation bar, change or add your own links, The best way to add a new menu item is to simply copy and paste one of the existing <link> tags.

Attribute	Attribute Description
name	name simply identifies the element within the siteUrls.config file. The name must be unique to the config file.
resourceUrl	resourceUrl value maps to a <url> tag elsewhere in the siteUrls.config file (where the path or url for the navigation item is actually stored)
resourceName	resourceName value maps to a resource name in the resources.xml file (where the actual text for the navigation element is stored)
roles	roles determines what users can view the navigation link. You can specify multiple roles by separating them with a comma.

Note: you can specify an actual link, text, etc. right in the siteUrls.config file using an entry similar to the following:

In the example above, the name attribute must be unique within the siteUrls.config document. The navigateUrl attribute should contain the actual URL of the navigation item and the text will contain whatever text we want users to see for the new navigation item.

We need to set the text value for the navigation item. To modify the text, we need to open the Resources.xml file. All of the text values used in Community Server are stored in resource files. This is important because without language specific resource files it would be very difficult to make Community Server available in more than one language. Once you've opened the Resources.xml file, scroll down just a bit and you'll see a section similar to this.

<resource name="other">other</resource>
<resource name="home">Home</resource>
<resource name="weblogs"></..........

These <resource> tags mark the main navigation items. You will need a corresponding <resource> tag for any new entries you create in the siteUrls.config file. The name attribute value must be unique within the Resources.xml file. The text inside the <resource> tag ("other" using an example from above) is the actual text for your navigation item.

Be sure to save the file once you've added the necessary tags. Community Server caches this data so you'll need to open and save your web.config (commonly referred as "touching the web.config") to force Community Server to reload the data.

How do I change the default content editor?

Jenny Jarrard — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 17:06:48 GMT

Current Revision posted to Community Server 2008.5 Documentation by Jenny Jarrard on 2/26/2010 11:06:48 AM

How do I change the default content editor?

editor, content editor

Community Server/Evolution ship using the TinyMCE editor. There are different flavors of the editor that provide varying levels of functionality. We refer to the flavors as Plain Text, Standard, and Enhanced. Out of the box, Community Server and Evolution use the TinyMCE editor in Standard mode. Individual users can set the content editor for their account in the user profile.

Follow these steps to change the default content editor for all new accounts:

Open your CommunityServer.config file in the root of your site. On a default install, the root of your site is located at <installdrive>:\program files\telligent\community server 2008.5\web for CS or <installdrive>:\program files\telligent\community server evolution\web for Evolution.
Look for the <editors> section
Under the entry for the “standard” editor, remove the “default=true” attribute:

a.   <editor name="Standard"
           type="CommunityServer.Controls.TinyMCE,
           CommunityServer.Controls" default="true"
           resourceName="EditorType_Standard_Name">
Under the entry for the “enhanced” editor, add the “default=true” attribute.
Restart the application in IIS and the enhanced editor should be the default editor for all new users to the site.

Community Server/Evolution provide a pluggable framework for editors that allows a developer to plug in an alternative editor to the ones shipped with the product. For example, some folks are partial to the FCK-editor so we built an FCK-editor wrapper (obtainable from Support) so that it could be used in Community Server/Evolution.

Managing Licenses

Jenny Jarrard — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 17:03:03 GMT

Current Revision posted to Community Server 2008.5 Documentation by Jenny Jarrard on 2/26/2010 11:03:03 AM

Managing Licenses

license

In order to unlock some features in Community Server, you must purchase and install a license. Click here for more informationObtain the service pack license from support.

You upload licenses though the Control Panel User Interface. Telligent has also included integration with the Store so if your installation server can access the Internet, it can download the license file by providing your License Key (an alpha-numeric string).

Procedure

Navigate to Control Panel Dashboard > System Administration > Site Administration > Manage Licenses.

You can install and add licenses, delete existing licenses, and review the current license attributes and usages from the Manage Licenses page.

Configuring Global Membership Properties

Jenny Jarrard — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 17:00:30 GMT

Current Revision posted to Community Server 2008.5 Documentation by Jenny Jarrard on 2/26/2010 11:00:30 AM

Configuring Global Membership Properties

membership, member

The membership configuration functionality allows you to set up the basic properties for your community members, such as membership account settings, member display lists, and roles cookie settings.

Procedure

Navigate to Control Panel Dashboard > System Administration > Membership Administration > Configuration. The membership administration control applet page displays.

The member Configuration work flow contains sub-heading tabs, representing the work flow tasks. As you open a work flow task, Community Server provides sub-headings, or pages, for each task. You can navigate the work flow tasks by clicking on the tabs.

Specify the site settings for each site configuration work flow task:

Click Save.

Installing a Community Server Service Pack

Jenny Jarrard — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 16:15:48 GMT

Current Revision posted to Community Server 2008.5 Documentation by Jenny Jarrard on 2/26/2010 10:15:48 AM

Installing a Community Server Service Pack

install, service pack

Community Server periodically makes service packs available to users to enhance the evolving Community Server functionality. Click here to get Obtain the service packs from Support. You should periodically check this site to find out if you have downloaded the latest service packs.

Procedure

1. Back up your database and your site files. Although Telligent does not anticipate any problems with the service pack installation, you should always back up your database and site files as a precaution.

2. Create a folder on your local drive or server into which you can download the service pack.

3. Download the latest Community Server service pack to the folder you created in Step 2.

4. Copy the following folders from your downloaded folders to your Community Server installation folder:

All the files in the /Web/ folder to your Community Server root folder.
All the files in the downloaded /binaries/ folder to your Community Server /Web/bin/ folder.
If you use the Software Development Kit (SDK), copy all the files from the downloaded /src/ folder to the folder in which you installed the SDK.

5. Run the upgrade script inside the SqlScripts folder against your database with a tool such as SQL Management Studio Express.

6. If you’re using the Community Server Single Sign On Modules, you will need to reinstall the SSO modules (this doesn’t apply for Evo Service Pack install).

7. If you’re on IIS7, you will need to re enable Double Escaping (this does apply for Evo Service Pack install) (this should be included in the cs/evo web.config file by default).

Community Server 2008.5 SP2 Installation Notes

Jenny Jarrard — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 16:14:51 GMT

Current Revision posted to Community Server 2008.5 Documentation by Jenny Jarrard on 2/26/2010 10:14:51 AM

Community Server 2008.5 SP2 Installation Notes

Community Server 2008.5 Service Pack 2 supports the following installation scenarios:

New installation. Click here to download Obtain the Community Server 2008.5 SP2 from Support.
Upgrade from an existing Community Server 2008.5 Service Pack 1.

Upgrade Notes

If you need to upgrade from a version of Community Server prior to 2008.5 SP1, then you must first upgrade to Community Server 2008.5 SP1, then apply SP2. The migration tools for CS 2008.5 SP1 are well-proven and stable; this is the smoothest path for you to move to CS 2008.5 SP2.

UPGRADE SCENARIOS

The following table describes how to upgrade your current version of Community Server to Community Server 2008.5 SP2.

Community Server Version	Instructions
Community Server 2007 or higher running on SQL Server 2005	Upgrade to Community Server 2008.5 SP1 using the Upgrader tool. Apply CS 2008.5 SP2 to your CS 2008.5 SP1 installation.
Community Server 2008.5 (without SP1) with SQL Server 2005	Apply CS 2008.5 SP1. Apply CS 2008.5 SP2.
Community Server 2008.5 SP1 with SQL Server 2005	Apply CS 2008.5 SP2.

SQL Server 2000 Users

At this time, the SQL patches included in SP2 are NOT compatible with SQL Server 2000. You can apply the binary updates and get the latest bug fixes; however, the performance changes in SP2's SQL scripts have not been ported back to SQL 2000.

If you have upgraded your Community Server install running on SQL Server 2000 to Community Server 2008.5 SP1, then you can apply the binary files over the top of that installation.

CS2008.5 SP3 Installation notes

Jenny Jarrard — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 16:11:24 GMT

Current Revision posted to Community Server 2008.5 Documentation by Jenny Jarrard on 2/26/2010 10:11:24 AM

CS2008.5 SP3 Installation notes

Community Server 2008.5 Service Pack 3 supports upgrading from prior versions of Community Server 2008.5.

Upgrade notes

If you need to upgrade from a version of Community Server prior to 2008.5 SP1, you must first upgrade to Community Server 2008.5 SP1, then upgrade to SP3. The migration tools for CS 2008.5 SP1 are well-proven and stable; this is the smoothest path for you to move to CS 2008.5 SP3.

Upgrade scenarios

The following table describes how to upgrade your current version of Community Server to Community Server 2008.5 SP3.

Community Server Version	Instructions
Community Server 2007 or higher running on SQL Server 2005	Upgrade to Community Server 2008.5 SP1 using the Upgrader tool obtained from Support. Apply CS 2008.5 SP2. Apply CS 2008.5 SP3.
Community Server 2008.5 (without SP1) with SQL Server 2005	Apply CS 2008.5 SP1. Apply CS 2008.5 SP2. Apply CS 2008.5 SP3
Community Server 2008.5 SP1 with SQL Server 2005	Apply CS 2008.5 SP2. Apply CS 2008.5 SP3.
Community Server 2008.5 SP2 with SQL Server 2005	Apply CS 2008.5 SP3.

Upgrade instructions

For sites with no customizations:

Note: If desired, before applying the upgrade, use a tool such as BeyondCompare to examine all the differences between your current site's Web folder and the service pack's files.

Back up your Community Server database.
Back up your Web site's files.
Copy the files from the Web folder of the Community Server SP3 distribution into your site's Web folder.
Verify settings in connectionstrings.config file are correct.
Apply the SQL upgrade script in the SQLScripts folder to your site's database.
Reset your site's application pool via iisreset or by "touching" the web.config file.

For sites with customizations:

Use a tool such as BeyondCompare or WinDiff to determine changes between all the files in your site's Web folder and the Web folder of the SP3 distribution. You will need to identify all changes and apply them manually or through a diffpatch.
Back up your Community Server database.
Back up your Web site's files.
Apply the changes from step 1.
Verify settings in connectionstrings.config file are correct.
Apply the SQL upgrade script in the SQLScripts folder to your site's database.
Reset your site's application pool via iisreset or by "touching" the web.config file.

SQL Server 2000 users

At this time, the SQL patches included in SP3 are not compatible with SQL Server 2000. You can apply the binary updates and get the latest bug fixes; however, the performance changes in SP3's SQL scripts have not been ported back to SQL 2000.

If you have upgraded your Community Server installation running on SQL Server 2000 to Community Server 2008.5 SP1, you can apply the binary files over the top of that installation.

Using OpenID to Log In

Jenny Jarrard — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 16:09:00 GMT

Current Revision posted to Community Server 2008.5 Documentation by Jenny Jarrard on 2/26/2010 10:09:00 AM

Using OpenID to Log In

If you have OpenID, you can use it to log in to Community Server.

Procedure

Open your Profile.
Select the Sign-In Information tab.

Scroll down to the OpenID section.

Enter your OpenID in the data field.
Click Associate OpenID.
When you log in to Community Server, click OpenID.

You can now sign in using OpenID.

Viewing Group Members

Jenny Jarrard — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 16:06:58 GMT

Current Revision posted to Community Server 2008.5 Documentation by Jenny Jarrard on 2/26/2010 10:06:58 AM

Viewing Group Members

member

As a member of a group, you can view the names of other group members.

Procedure

Navigate to the group landing page.
Click Members in the sidebar.

The Members page displays. You can open a member's public profile by clicking the user avatar or user name.

You can use the sort by functionality to sort the group members.

The default sorting view is by username. When you sort by membership type, Community Server lists the group owner first, then the members in alphabetical order.

Viewing Group Members

Jenny Jarrard — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 16:05:32 GMT

Revision 4 posted to Community Server 2008.5 Documentation by Jenny Jarrard on 2/26/2010 10:05:32 AM

Viewing Group Members

member

As a member of a group, you can view the names of other group members.

Procedure

Navigate to the group landing page.
Click Members in the sidebar.

The Members page displays. You can open a member's member's public profile by clicking the user avatar or user name.

You can use the sort by functionality to sort the group members.

The default sorting view is by username. When you sort by membership type, Community Server lists the group owner first, then the members in alphabetical order.

Forums Functionality

Jenny Jarrard — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 16:03:35 GMT

Current Revision posted to Community Server 2008.5 Documentation by Jenny Jarrard on 2/26/2010 10:03:35 AM

Forums Functionality

This section describes the forums functionality, including a description of the forums main page, adding a post, subscribing to a forum, and sorting posts.

Forums Overview

Adding a Forum Post - Registered Users

Viewing Users Online

Browsing Users

Sorting and Filtering Forum Posts

Marking Unopened Posts as Read

Using the Forum Reply Options

Subscribing to a Forum - Registered Users

Subscribing to Forum Threads

Forums Overview

Jenny Jarrard — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 16:01:40 GMT

Current Revision posted to Community Server 2008.5 Documentation by Jenny Jarrard on 2/26/2010 10:01:40 AM

Forums Overview

overview, discussion workflow, Q and A workflow

The primary function of the Forums main page is to provide you with access to all of your community's forums and discussions. You will note that the center of the page contains a list of forum posts.

The Browse Discussions section at the bottom of the main Forums page lists the forum groups and the forums contained in each group.

The above example shows two forum groups: Administrators and Sample. The forums contained in each are in smaller font beneath the forum group title. You can enter a forum by clicking on the group or a forum.

You can access your community's Forums main page by doing any of the following:

Clicking Forums on the navigation panel from any page in the community.

Clicking View all discussions from your Dashboard page.

The Community Server Forums main page looks like this:

Forum Post Sorting Functionality

Community Server also allows you to manipulate how forums content displays on the Forums main page. For example, you have several forums sorting options:

All Recent - Lists in descending order the most recent forum posts.
Unanswered - Lists the forums that have not generated any replies.
Unread - Lists the forums that have not been read.
Your Discussions - Lists forums in which you have participated in discussions.

Shortcuts Functionality

The Shortcuts section displays in the right sidebar.

The links available to you is based upon your role privileges. In the example above, you would not see any of the administrative links or Control Panel unless you had an administrative role.

View all users - Opens the Browse People page, from which you can search for other users in the community. Click here for additional information.
Posts you have not read - Lists the forum posts you have not read. When you open an unread post, it is removed from this list.
Forum Subscriptions - Opens the Forum Subscriptions page, from which you can subscribe to a forum and view the list of forums to which you have subscribed.
Who is online - Opens the Who is Online page, which displays all the users currently online.

Tags Functionality

You can also browse forums posts by tags. The Tags panel contains the list of tags used by the forum posts. The more common the tag, or the tags used with the most forum posts, display with the largest font. For example, the Blog, Blogs, CS 2.1 and CS 2007 tags are the most used in the Community Server blog posts, as shown in the tag cloud below.

When you click on an item in the tag cloud, Community Server opens a page with the list of all forum posts that use the tag. For example, if you click themes in the tag cloud, Community Server opens a page that lists all of the forum posts that use the themes tag.

>Click here for more information about browsing by tags.

Forum Posts Functionality

You can open a post by clicking on the post title. Community Server supports two post workflows:

Discussion workflow

Click here for more information about the discussion workflow functionalities.

Q & A workflow

Click here for more information about the Q & A status tracking feature.

When someone replies to the post, Community Server displays the reply below the post content so it is viewable to everyone in the community.

Forums Overview

Jenny Jarrard — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 15:59:57 GMT

Revision 9 posted to Community Server 2008.5 Documentation by Jenny Jarrard on 2/26/2010 9:59:57 AM

Forums Overview

overview, discussion workflow, Q and A workflow

The primary function of the Forums main page is to provide you with access to all of your community's community's forums and discussions. You will note that the center of the page contains a list of forum posts.

The Browse Discussions section at the bottom of the main Forums page lists the forum groups and the forums contained in each group.

You can access your community's community's Forums main page by doing any of the following:

Clicking Forums on the navigation panel from any page in the community.

Clicking View all discussions from your Dashboard page.

The Community Server Forums main page looks like this:

Forum Post Sorting Functionality

Community Server also allows you to manipulate how forums content displays on the Forums main page. For example, you have several forums sorting options:

All Recent - Lists in descending order the most recent forum posts.
Unanswered - Lists the forums that have not generated any replies.
Unread - Lists the forums that have not been read.
Your Discussions - Lists forums in which you have participated in discussions.

Shortcuts Functionality

The Shortcuts section displays in the right sidebar.

The links available to you is based upon your role privileges. In the example above, you would not see any of the administrative links or Control Panel unless you had an administrative role.

View all users - Opens the Browse People page, from which you can search for other users in the community. Click here for additional information.
Posts you have not read - Lists the forum posts you have not read. When you open an unread post, it is removed from this list.
Forum Subscriptions - Opens the Forum Subscriptions page, from which you can subscribe to a forum and view the list of forums to which you have subscribed.
Who is online - Opens the Who is Online page, which displays all the users currently online.

Tags Functionality

>Click here for more information about browsing by tags.

Forum Posts Functionality

You can open a post by clicking on the post title. Community Server supports two post workflows:

Discussion workflow

Click here for more information about the discussion workflow functionalities.

Q & A workflow

Click here for more information about the Q & A status tracking feature.

When someone replies to the post, Community Server displays the reply below the post content so it is viewable to everyone in the community.

Installation Troubleshooting Guide

Jenny Jarrard — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 15:58:56 GMT

Current Revision posted to Community Server 2008.5 Documentation by Jenny Jarrard on 2/26/2010 9:58:56 AM

Installation Troubleshooting Guide

install

Community Server and Community Server Evolution are not your average applications. That is, they are not like desktop applications that many of us are accustomed to installing on our personal computers. Community Server/Evolution require external applications to function. These external dependencies make configuration exponentially more difficult. We're committed to making the installation and configuration process easier with each release so we welcome your feedback on how we can make the process better.

We recognize that today you might install Community Server or Evolution and the install might look like it worked (or you might not be able to tell if it was successful or not - another article for another day) but when you browse to the site you are confronted with errors and other issues. The purpose of this article is to provide you with guidance on how you can troubleshoot your installation.

If you received an error while running the MSI installation problem then these steps may not be of assistance to you. If you installed Community Server or Evolution using the web installer or manual installation then these steps will probably be of more assistance.

Step 1
Do you get the same result when you browse to http://yourcsurl as you do when you browse to http://yourcsurl/default.aspx (note: specifying the actual default page is key here)?

If you answered "Yes" to the step 1 question then proceed to step 2.

If you answered "No" to step 1 then you need to make sure that default.aspx is added to the Default Document list in Internet Information Server (IIS). To add default.aspx to the Document list, you first open the IIS administrative console.

Using the IIS administration console, you need to open the properties dialogue for your Community Server/Evolution website.

Finally, you navigate to the Documents tab. If you don't see default.aspx listed in the listbox then you need to add it.

Please attempt to browse http://yourcsulr/ and http://yourcsurl/default.aspx again to see if this has resolved the issue.

Step 2

Do you get a 404 Not Found error when browsing your Community Server site at the URLs used in step 1?

If you answered "Yes" then you need to do the following:

Ensure that IIS is pointing to the correct directory for your installation. If you are unsure how to find and use the IIS administrative console then follow the instructions in step 1 to get you to the IIS administrative console.

The default directory used by the MSI installer is C:\Program Files\Telligent\Community Server <version number>\. If you used the default install directory then you'd want your IIS website pointed at C:\Program Files\Telligent\Community Server <version number>\Web (where <vesion number> is replaced by the version you installed - i.e. 2008.5).
Ensure that the user account used by IIS/your website has the appropriate permissions to access the Community Server files. If you are running Windows XP/IIS 5.1 then your website files are accessed using the MACHINE\ASPNET account. If you are running IIS 6.0+ on Windows 2003+ then your website files are accessed using the NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE account. If you have questions about what account your website will be using then please see this ASP.NET identity matrix.

The root folder containing your website files needs READ & EXECUTE, LIST FOLDER CONTENTS, and READ permissions.

The filestorage folder (found in the Web folder) is unique to CS. The filestorage folder, by default, holds all of the files you upload to your community so Community Server needs to be able to write files to that folder. You'll need to navigate and ensure that the ASP.NET account (on WinXP/IIS 5.1) has MODIFY and WRITE permissions (in addition to the priveleges outlined in the previous step) to this folder.

If you answered "No" then proceed to step 3.

Step 3

Do you get a page full of markup?

If you answered "Yes" then you need to ensure that ASP.NET is installed on the machine in question. Then you need to read and follow the instructions here.

If you answered "No" then proceed to step 4.

Step 4

Do you get a blank page when browsing your Community Server/Evolution site?

If you answered "Yes" then you need to do the following:

Ensure that the folder where you installed Community Server/Evolution is marked as a Virtual Directory and Application in IIS.

Take notice that there is an application name in the Application name field. Also, take note of the icon in the tree view on the left as it is markedly different than the aspnet_client folder for example.
Ensure that there is a Global.asax file in the Web folder where you installed Community Server or Evolution.

We hope that this guide has served you well in getting Community Server or Evolution installed and running properly. If you have further questions then you should consider posting your question on the community forums or if you desire professional support directly from Telligent then you will need to go here.

Registered Users Help

Jenny Jarrard — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 15:55:18 GMT

Current Revision posted to Community Server 2008.5 Documentation by Jenny Jarrard on 2/26/2010 9:55:18 AM

Registered Users Help

The Registered Users section provides registered users with information they need to use Evolution functionality.

Home Page and General Community Server Functionality

Media Gallery Functionality

Registered Users Help

Jenny Jarrard — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 15:53:58 GMT

Revision 4 posted to Community Server 2008.5 Documentation by Jenny Jarrard on 2/26/2010 9:53:58 AM

Registered Users Help

The Registered Users section provides registered users with information they need to use Evolution functionality.

Home Page and General Community Server Functionality

Media Gallery Functionality

Installation Troubleshooting Guide

Jenny Jarrard — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 15:52:51 GMT

Revision 8 posted to Community Server 2008.5 Documentation by Jenny Jarrard on 2/26/2010 9:52:51 AM

Installation Troubleshooting Guide

install

Step 1
Do you get the same result when you browse to http://yourcsurl as you do when you browse to http://yourcsurl/default.aspx (note: specifying the actual default page is key here)?

If you answered "Yes" to the step 1 question then proceed to step 2.

Using the IIS administration console, you need to open the properties dialogue for your Community Server/Evolution website.

Finally, you navigate to the Documents tab. If you don't see default.aspx listed in the listbox then you need to add it.

Please attempt to browse http://yourcsulr/ and http://yourcsurl/default.aspx again to see if this has resolved the issue.

Step 2

Do you get a 404 Not Found error when browsing your Community Server site at the URLs used in step 1?

If you answered "Yes" then you need to do the following:

Ensure that IIS is pointing to the correct directory for your installation. If you are unsure how to find and use the IIS administrative console then follow the instructions in step 1 to get you to the IIS administrative console.

The default directory used by the MSI installer is C:\Program Files\Telligent\Community Server <version number>\. If you used the default install directory then you'd want your IIS website pointed at C:\Program Files\Telligent\Community Server <version number>\Web (where <vesion number> is replaced by the version you installed - i.e. 2008.5).
Ensure that the user account used by IIS/your website has the appropriate permissions to access the Community Server files. If you are running Windows XP/IIS 5.1 then your website files are accessed using the MACHINE\ASPNET account. If you are running IIS 6.0+ on Windows 2003+ then your website files are accessed using the NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE account. If you have questions about what account your website will be using then please see this ASP.NET identity matrix.

The root folder containing your website files needs READ & EXECUTE, LIST FOLDER CONTENTS, and READ permissions.

The filestorage folder (found in the Web folder) is unique to CS. The filestorage folder, by default, holds all of the files you upload to your community so Community Server needs to be able to write files to that folder. You'll need to navigate and ensure that the ASP.NET account (on WinXP/IIS 5.1) has MODIFY and WRITE permissions (in addition to the priveleges outlined in the previous step) to this folder.

If you answered "No" then proceed to step 3.

Step 3

Do you get a page full of markup?

If you answered "Yes" then you need to ensure that ASP.NET is installed on the machine in question. Then you need to read and follow the instructions here.

If you answered "No" then proceed to step 4.

Step 4

Do you get a blank page when browsing your Community Server/Evolution site?

If you answered "Yes" then you need to do the following:

Ensure that the folder where you installed Community Server/Evolution is marked as a Virtual Directory and Application in IIS.

Take notice that there is an application name in the Application name field. Also, take note of the icon in the tree view on the left as it is markedly different than the aspnet_client folder for example.
Ensure that there is a Global.asax file in the Web folder where you installed Community Server or Evolution.

Installation Troubleshooting Guide

Jenny Jarrard — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 15:49:50 GMT

Revision 7 posted to Community Server 2008.5 Documentation by Jenny Jarrard on 2/26/2010 9:49:50 AM

Installation Troubleshooting Guide

install

Step 1
Do you get the same result when you browse to http://yourcsurl as you do when you browse to http://yourcsurl/default.aspx (note: specifying the actual default page is key here)?

If you answered "Yes" to the step 1 question then proceed to step 2.

Using the IIS administration console, you need to open the properties dialogue for your Community Server/Evolution website.

Finally, you navigate to the Documents tab. If you don't see default.aspx listed in the listbox then you need to add it.

Please attempt to browse http://yourcsulr/ and http://yourcsurl/default.aspx again to see if this has resolved the issue.

Step 2

Do you get a 404 Not Found error when browsing your Community Server site at the URLs used in step 1?

If you answered "Yes" then you need to do the following:

Ensure that IIS is pointing to the correct directory for your installation. If you are unsure how to find and use the IIS administrative console then follow the instructions in step 1 to get you to the IIS administrative console.

The default directory used by the MSI installer is C:\Program Files\Telligent\Community Server <version number>\. If you used the default install directory then you'd want your IIS website pointed at C:\Program Files\Telligent\Community Server <version number>\Web (where <vesion number> is replaced by the version you installed - i.e. 2008.5).
Ensure that the user account used by IIS/your website has the appropriate permissions to access the Community Server files. If you are running Windows XP/IIS 5.1 then your website files are accessed using the MACHINE\ASPNET account. If you are running IIS 6.0+ on Windows 2003+ then your website files are accessed using the NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE account. If you have questions about what account your website will be using then please see this ASP.NET identity matrix.

The root folder containing your website files needs READ & EXECUTE, LIST FOLDER CONTENTS, and READ permissions.

The filestorage folder (found in the Web folder) is unique to CS. The filestorage folder, by default, holds all of the files you upload to your community so Community Server needs to be able to write files to that folder. You'll need to navigate and ensure that the ASP.NET account (on WinXP/IIS 5.1) has MODIFY and WRITE permissions (in addition to the priveleges outlined in the previous step) to this folder.

If you answered "No" then proceed to step 3.

Step 3

Do you get a page full of markup?

If you answered "Yes" then you need to ensure that ASP.NET is installed on the machine in question. Then you need to read and follow the instructions here.

If you answered "No" then proceed to step 4.

Step 4

Do you get a blank page when browsing your Community Server/Evolution site?

If you answered "Yes" then you need to do the following:

Ensure that the folder where you installed Community Server/Evolution is marked as a Virtual Directory and Application in IIS.

Take notice that there is an application name in the Application name field. Also, take note of the icon in the tree view on the left as it is markedly different than the aspnet_client folder for example.
Ensure that there is a Global.asax file in the Web folder where you installed Community Server or Evolution.

Community Server 2008.5 Documentation

Question and Answer Thread Functionality

Question and Answer Thread Functionality

Understanding Q&A

The original Question

Normal Responses

Suggested Answer

Verified Answer

Using Q&A

Starting a Q&A thread

Suggesting an Answer

Verifying an Answer

Rejecting an Answer

Monitoring Questions

Reporting with Harvest

Managing Q&A

Globally Enable / Disable Q&A

Enabling / Disabling Q&A per forum

Question and Answer Thread Functionality

Question and Answer Thread Functionality

Understanding Q&A

The original Question

Normal Responses

Suggested Answer

Verified Answer

Using Q&A

Starting a Q&A thread

Suggesting an Answer

Verifying an Answer

Rejecting an Answer

Monitoring Questions

Reporting with Harvest

Managing Q&A

Globally Enable / Disable Q&A

Enabling / Disabling Q&A per forum

How do I manually add new links to the navigation bar?

How do I manually add new links to the navigation bar?

How do I change the default content editor?

How do I change the default content editor?

Managing Licenses

Managing Licenses

Related Topics

Configuring Global Membership Properties

Configuring Global Membership Properties

Installing a Community Server Service Pack

Installing a Community Server Service Pack

Community Server 2008.5 SP2 Installation Notes

Community Server 2008.5 SP2 Installation Notes

Upgrade Notes

UPGRADE SCENARIOS

SQL Server 2000 Users

CS2008.5 SP3 Installation notes

CS2008.5 SP3 Installation notes

Upgrade notes

Upgrade scenarios

Upgrade instructions

SQL Server 2000 users

Using OpenID to Log In

Using OpenID to Log In

Viewing Group Members

Viewing Group Members

Viewing Group Members

Viewing Group Members

Forums Functionality

Forums Functionality

Forums Overview

Forums Overview

Forum Post Sorting Functionality

Shortcuts Functionality

Tags Functionality

Forum Posts Functionality

Forums Overview

Forums Overview

Forum Post Sorting Functionality

Shortcuts Functionality

Tags Functionality

Forum Posts Functionality

Installation Troubleshooting Guide

Installation Troubleshooting Guide

Registered Users Help